Annoying Game Show Gimmicks

[Nick]

Didn't Jay also do the "So far (contestant) has won X..." live at the start of the show?... I believe he may have done the prize plug for the Fame Game segments live too.

Yes, I believe so.  Sorry, I should have specified that.  He did the precap, they played the intro tape, then continued live to tape with Jim's entrance, and the Fame Game plugs were done live as well.

At least as far as I can tell from all the episodes I've seen that's how it was done, but if somebody who knows the inner workings of Sale better than I do knows better, prove me wrong.

[calliaume]

Going to the 1960s New York-based NBC shows, I don't think we ever saw audience shots, mostly because those were some tiny studios.  Based on the photos I've seen, I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been much more than 150 people.

"He Said She Said" panned through the audience during their intros.

I didn't know that; thanks for the correction.  Perhaps Buzzr will run a few episodes again this year for Valentine's Day.  I have no memory of this show during its original run - I know it did run in New York, but I just didn't catch it.  (In fairness, I was seven years old when it went off the air.)

[SRIV94]

When I think of the other side, anything taped at Burbank back in the day seemed to virtually never have the audience on camera, outside of maybe a ticket plug.  Did they ever show the audience for such shows a Blockbusters and Sale of the Century?

Scrabble is the only NBC show from that era that I can think of. Password Plus would show the audience for ticket plugs, but other than that, I can't recall anything else.

CS did too.  And there were a few weeks in the spring of 1979 where CS made a concerted effort to show a spouse in the audience during the Money Cards. P+ also showed the audience when nobody solved the puzzle or got the fifth password.

I don't ever remember $otC showing the audience, which led me to wonder either on this board or one of our earlier iterations whether they actually had one.  Matt O. set me straight.

/Because he's Matt O., and he can do that.

[BrandonFG]

When I think of the other side, anything taped at Burbank back in the day seemed to virtually never have the audience on camera, outside of maybe a ticket plug.  Did they ever show the audience for such shows a Blockbusters and Sale of the Century?

Scrabble is the only NBC show from that era that I can think of. Password Plus would show the audience for ticket plugs, but other than that, I can't recall anything else.

CS did too.  And there were a few weeks in the spring of 1979 where CS made a concerted effort to show a spouse in the audience during the Money Cards. P+ also showed the audience when nobody solved the puzzle or got the fifth password.

IIRC, CS also showed the audience giving Jim Perry a standing ovation when he entered for a milestone (I think it was his 3,000th game show episode).

Jim once noted a $ale contestant getting a standing ovation after winning the lot. I was really surprised they didn't show the audience then.

[SuperMatch93]

I don't ever remember $otC showing the audience, which led me to wonder either on this board or one of our earlier iterations whether they actually had one.

Someone once asked Mitt Dawson if they did on one of his videos, and he replied in the affirmative. Also, in some of the later episodes Jim shouts out school groups and the like who came to see the show.

[thomas_meighan]

Other NBC Burbank games (that I can think of) that regularly showed the audience:

You Don't Say! (during the intro)
Let's Make a Deal (well, of course)
Celebrity Sweepstakes
Mindreaders (audience game)
To Tell the Truth '90 (audience game)

Among East Coast NBC shows, Concentration often did pans of the audience at the midpoint of episodes.

OTOH, there were CBS shows that rarely or never seemed to show the audience -- Gambit (in the surviving episodes I've seen), Pyramid and Pass the Buck, to name a few. Now You See It sometimes showed the audience, but I don't recall Double Dare doing so. What about Whew?

[TimK2003]

IIRC, CS also showed the audience giving Jim Perry a standing ovation when he entered for a milestone (I think it was his 3,000th game show episode).

They did the same thing for Bert Convy on the Super Password finale.  A standing ovation, that is.

[BrandonFG]

Not a gimmick, but for some reason, it bugs me that on Match Game Alec calls the bonus round "Super Match" instead of "the (big money) Super Match". It's so minor and I'm prolly the only one who notices it, but it bugs me.

[TLEberle]

So here's something for you--the "big money" is only $5,000 more than what you could win on the two years of Match Game PM with the star wheel or the syndicated daily version. At the beginning I looked askance at the money amounts for the Audience Match portion, but there's no carryover, no other place to win money, so it's not so bad. I still wish they had the wheel and the chance at fifty grand.

[Neumms]

I kind of liked the audience game on The Joker's Wild just because it changed up the rhythm. What drove me nuts is asking if they wanted to quit and take the money after every bonus round spin. We're talking $500, not $5000 a point as on Twenty-One.

[TLEberle]

I kind of liked the audience game on The Joker's Wild just because it changed up the rhythm. What drove me nuts is asking if they wanted to quit and take the money after every bonus round spin. We're talking $500, not $5000 a point as on Twenty-One.

The one thing you can give Jack Barry credit for is that he knew how to crack the whip about it. Even Wink Martindale moved along the Beat the Dragon game--even though they were utterly random and silly at least they kept going forward.

[Ian Wallis]

Not really a gimmick, but

"Welcome to Family Feud everybody...I'm your man Steve Harvey and we've got a good one for you today..."

He says that at the beginning of every show.  I guess he must think they're all good.

[Nick]

Not really a gimmick, but

"Welcome to Family Feud everybody...I'm your man Steve Harvey and we've got a good one for you today..."

On that subject, when not so very long ago the very first words spoken each episode were, "This is Joey Fatone."  And the fact an ex-member of '90s boy band is now doing recorded voiceovers to serve as your announcer is that big a deal because...?

[TLEberle]

"Hi, I'm your wacky host Sinatra. Welcome to another condescending and craptacular episode of Thousand Dollar Bee where we won't give away any money or prizes."

I get what you mean, but he's not going to throw shade on the show that employs him.

[Nick]

I get what you mean, but he's not going to throw shade on the show that employs him.

No, but he's supposed to be a comedian.  He could say something that's supposed to be funny.  He doesn't have to just read the prompter.